Greetings druids and those who are thinking about playing a druid. Since I first started my druid, I have read strategies here and other places and found them to be both helpful and informative, but I have also read some things and seen some things in game that I thought go against the grain of being a druid. I'm sure some of my thoughts might rub some people the wrong way, but this is just my take on the class and is intended to help those out who wish to play a druid and not step on the toes of those who already do.
First off, my druid is a wood elf druid, so much of what I know comes from playing that class. There are as many different ways to play a character as there are ways to gain experience, but I'm only going to throw in things that I have done personally that may not be posted here. I don't feel the need to repeat the same strategies that other people have already suggested.
In creating your druid, don't make the same mistake I made and think you can cheat the odds and become a "tanking druid" by pumping a bunch of points into strength. That was a stupid mistake that I have spent a lot of time, energy, and money trying to correct. Put as many points as you can into wisdom. This is very important. The higher your wisdom, the more spells you can cast.
In some circles, there is a lot of bitterness saying that the druid class is too powerful and has too many advantages. I won't attempt to argue this point. It is both true and not true. On the one had, druids are probably the only class that can easily solo from level 1 to level 60. On the other hand, druids are also the only class that will struggle to survive even one easy fight in an indoor dungeon whether they are grouped or not. At least, I have found it so.
Anyway, level 1 through 5, do the normal lowbie killing area. There is little flash, flair, or strategy involved here. Just always con your target and be aware of where the closest guard and the closest zone is... just in case.
At level 5, I ran around hunting orc pawns and spiderlings in faydark. I didn't feel like fighting over spawns on orc hill and then accidentally finding out we had pulled too many and the entire group was dead. By hunting down pawns and spiderlings, you level slower, but you also have time to develop your skills some. You are still fighting easy enough creatures that you can still successfully tank, so why not? Smack and cast. Since that time, I have discovered that hunting near the crossroads in Butcherblock Mountains is also very good exp. Just always be aware of your surroundings because it is no fun to hear your bones crunch and read the message "Corflunk hits you for 38." When the dwarf skeletons start to con you blue, even, or even yellow, take a bash at them and save those bone chips for the quest in the dwarf pally guild.
I forget when druids get meditate, but I believe it is level 8. Anyway, when you reach this point, pat yourself on that back and gloat to all your druid friends who still have a bubble or two to go before they get it. From level 8 to 12, I hunted just inside Crushbone killing the cent spawns in the area. This was a frustrating time because Crushbone is always so crowded, but I didn't know anywhere else to go at that time. If this is what you wish to do, the exp is good, the money is fair, and the belt quest is nice, but starts to wind down around level 10 or so. At level 10, I started selling mine so that I would always have money for spells. If I were doing it now, level 10 would probably find me hunting in Steamfont near the zone. With my level 10 wizard, I was able to nuke ebon drakes from a distance and then root them and nuke away until they were dead. With a druid, snare, nuke, run, lather, rinse, repeat. If you run out of mana and the beastie is still ticked and chasing, remember that the zone is your friend.
At level 12, I started to feel the itch. SoW was in sight and I wanted it! I went to the windmills in Steamfont and grouped with another druid. Together, we hunted the mino slavers near the mine entrance, rogue clockworks, harpies, and ebon drakes. Just always keep a look out for the mino hero because he is very convincing about making you very dead. I made it from level 12 to 14 in about 4 hours this way. Me and my other druid partner just alternated who was primary nuker while the other would med.
Congrats! You are now level 14, you are feeling pretty puffed up, and you are casting SoW on everyone you can find. You feel deep in your heart that you are now a master of travel. Heh. Just wait.
At 14, I went to Oasis. Once again, a very crowded zone that sports some very dangerous critters for the unwary. I soloed here from 14 to 20 and, for the first time, started to realize that I wasn't a tank. Heh. I learn slow. Anyway, I stayed mainly on blues which meant going up the food chain started with caimens, then crocs, the dw caimens, and finally dw crocs. Here is where I first started to kind of learn how to kite. Keep SoW up. I usually just rooted and nuked, but the root will almost always break before the bad guy has given up on having a druid snack. What I didn't know then is that snare is your best friend and your DoT is runner up. Snare, DoT, and nuke. With crocs, you can also fear and you never have to worry about loosing a toe to the hungry beast. Just remember to fear AFTER you snare. I feared lockjaw once and never saw him again... even chasing him with SoW.
At 20, I grouped in the round room in Unrest. If you can find a monk who is an experienced puller, this can be a bastion of exp and loot. I stayed here moving up in the range of difficulty until 24.
Level 24! Wolf form! What a feeling!!! At 24, I ventured on the raft that often docks in Oasis out to an island in Timorous Deep that most call ogre crossing. There are many ogre spawns here and, at least when I was here, few hunted here at all. The exp is good and most drop a fine steel weapon of some sort, so the loot is even better. Just watch out for Oowomp. This nasty Ogre killed me like I was an event in the Ogre nation olympics. I had to go back later and camp him for a few days just to get the revenge gene out of my system. I only stayed here until 25 or 26. Then, I was on the boat to Kunark.
Ah. The Lake of Ill Omen. Here is where I truly learned how to kite. You can group easily here and there are always groups hunting around the "mill," but I went out by the lake shore and solo pulled and kited and made 3 levels in just a few days. I ventured into the Sarnak fortress a few times, but just didn't like the place too much. After dying a few times at the hands of charbone skeletons, I declared war on them at level 29 and made it to level 30 in about 2 hours.
I know that my title says "Roleplaying tips." Well, we're getting to that shortly. But first, let me just say.....
The Overthere. Wonderful place at level 30. I grouped a few times here, but was disappointed in the exp and got tired of running into the Goons that patrol the zone. About midway through level 30, I moved away from the FM zone and wandered along the wall until I was close to the ruins near the Warsliks Woods zone. Here, it was back to solo kiting. If you stay near the wall, even when the goons are near, they will rarely see you and you don't have to be the source of a zone full of groans as you shout "GOON TO ZONE!!!" I hunted Sarnaks and rhinos mainly, but sometimes pulled some cockatrices or tigers. In about a week, I made it from level 30 to 35. Could be faster in a group, but I generally have bad luck in groups.
Here is where roleplaying comes into effect. There are a lot of posted strategies here that at level 35, hunt the dwarves in Butcherblock Mountains. I'm sorry. I'm a wood elf and wood elves and dwarves are friends. I'm sure the exp is nice and the loot not bad, but I want to hunt dwarves about as much as I want to hunt the druids at the druid rings. To me, the name of the game is roleplaying, not How Fast Can I Make it to 60. I enjoy playing the role of an elf and I don't hunt my allies or friends.
So, at level 35, I got a warrior friend and we went into Mistmoore. I'm a wood elf. I don't want to kill dwarves, but I LOVE killing dark elves. Mistmoore is a VERY nasty zone for the unprepared, but if you control your pulls and keep your ears open, the exp and loot can rock! Level 35 is not a fun level, but I made it to 36 in 2 days of medium playing. Be aware though, trains in Mistmoore are among the worst and most dangerous in the game.
At 36, the old revenge bug was creaping up again. In more feverous moments, I could hear the gutteral growling and loud stomping of hill giants and sand giants. So, got my warrior buddy again and went out for some payback. Again, I just cast lvl 1 snare, dot, and nuke. Then, the tank comes in behind and start hacking away while you slowly back the giant in circles. If the tank never presses taunt, the giant will stay pretty cheezed at you for that first nuke. Eventually, he'll turn on your tank buddy. Just nuke again and here he comes. We could generally take down 2 or 3 giants before I had to start medding. If giants were scarce in Karana and Commons, we would seek out griffs. If they were scarce, it was off to Rathe mountains. These giants drop tons of plat, so the area is often crowded, but the hunting is good.
At 38, I headed off to solo kite snow cougars, snow dervishes, dire wolves, and frost giants in Iceclad. The exp and loot varies, but it was always an adventure. In my time there, I got 3 cougar claw earrings and multiple intel items that I gave or sold to pure caster friends.
Around 39 or 40, find yourself a group and hunt outside Karnor's Castle in dreadlands. Main piece of advice here, never, never, NEVER wolf form in this zone. There is a dragon that sometimes wanders around and just LOVES the taste of druid wolfie. Ask me how I found this out and I'll grumble some answer under my breath. I swear that sometimes when I see this dragon now, I catch a sparkle in her eyes as she slurps a serpantine tongue across her lips.
The hunting in DL is good... not always great. The nice thing about pulling around the area of Karnor's is that you can easily zone into the castle if things get too nasty. Just be aware that just inside the castle is not always the healthiest place to be.
Well, that's kind of it for me. I'm almost through level 45. Let me tell you, if you thought 30, 35, and 40 sucked as far as level, you ain't seen nothing yet. I'm back to solo kiting at the moment because the exp is just a little better. I've mainly been hunting blue stuff in Eastern Wastes and giants in Iceclad. The giants are VERY poor exp right now, but I'm trying to make sure my faction with Claws of Veshian is climbing. Also, there are times when there are many snow griffons in Easter Wastes. These guys make Grimfeather look like an arthritic toad. Wolf form hasn't a prayer of outrunning them and they triple hit up to 102, so watch out. If you decide to fight one, they are nice exp, but if your snare fails, pray you are VERY close to the zone because you don't get a second cast. Once I finally hit 46, my future plans are to go out to Cobalt Scar or maybe Emerald Jungle. I'm also hoping to go back to some of the indoor dungeons that I haven't been able to hunt before since druids suck so bad indoors.
Druids are a fun class and have many advantages, but they also have disadvantages. Learn to maximize your good qualities so that your bad qualities are lessoned. If you don't, well, LOADING... PLEASE WAIT.....
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